Trust
by titansfan1211
Summary: Robin trusts the team with his birth date. After he challenges them to figure out his identity with that bit of info, though, who will go for it? Later Robin makes the answer literally a click away... tempted? After all, it's only a matter of trust...


**Don't know where the inspiration for this came from, but once I started writing, my mind wouldn't shut up. Not sure if this is in the right category though, so I might change it. The begining of it is quite comedy-sketch-ish, but then it gets serious, then funny then serious, so... yea. As always, please R&R!**

"Okay, what about your birthday, Mr. Secrets?" Kid Flash asked the boy wonder, dreading the most obvious answer, sure to be a 'no'. He had been pestering Robin with questions all day, trying to find out more about him. And after saying no to answering what his favorite color was? Telling his birthday was obviously going to be a big fat - "

"Sure, Wally." …Yes? The speedster did a double take.

"Wait- seriously? You'll tell me your birthday?"

"Well, sure," Robin said with a shrug.

"But what about you're secret I.D.? Couldn't I find out who you are? I mean, I know your age already…"

"You trying to talk me out of this?" Robin asked with a laugh. "And my birthday's March 21st. That's how I got my name, by the way."

"The first day of spring… I get it!" he exclaimed.

_"You_, understanding anything?" Artemis asked, as she walked into the room, "I've gotta hear this."

"Can't, secret stuff here, not your business, Arty, so if you'll just get lost," Wally hinted.

"What's wrong with her knowing?" Robin asked, sneaky look on his face, "After all, it's my secret to share."

"What secret," Artemis asked, curiosity peaked.

"Rob, what are you-"

"Nothing major," he said, shrugging, "just my birthday." He smirked as Artemis's eyes grew wide.

"But couldn't that lead to your secret I.D.? I mean, everyone on the team knows you're thirteen, so – "

"So what? You'll know what, in addition? The year I was born? Who cares? And Wally over there brought up the same point," he added, for the satisfaction of seeing the look of disgust that crossed the Speedster and Archer's faces.

"And my birthday's in March –"

"Let me guess, on the 21st?" Robin nodded, smug smile on his face. "So you really are a Robin."

"Guess so."

"So, again, why are you telling us this?" she asked, curiosity gnawing at her.

"Well, actually-"

"Telling you what?" asked Aqualad, as he came through the doorway.

"Oh, nothing, nothing," Artemis covered, "Just talking about how much of an idiot Wally is…"

"Hey!"

"Arty, no need to lie about it," Robin assured loudly, to the embarrassment of the blond haired girl. "After all, no secrets in a team, right?" Seeing the look on Wally's face, he added, "With _some_ boundaries, anyway." The dark haired boy turned to Aqualad.

"I don't see what the big deal is – I just told them my birthday. I don't care if you guys know."

"Oh? When is your birthday?" asked Aqualad, equally curious as the others had been about the dark knight's protogee.

"It's-"

"March," Wally interrupted.

"The 21st," Artemis interrupted Wally, to his annoyance.

"Oh. I have heard that surface dwellers call people born on the first day of spring-"

"Robins? Yea, yea, that's where he got his name, can we move on?" Kid Flash shouted. All he wanted to do was get everyone to leave, so he could interrogate Robin as to what the heck he was doing, and rush him straight to the bat-firmary… or whatever it was called to get his head checked.

Before Kaldur could respond though… "Move on from what?" Miss Martian asked as she and Superboy walked into the room. Wally and Artemis groaned in response, tired of hearing the story so many times.

"Look, Rob told me, and then opened his big mouth again and told Arty, then Kaldur walked in, and then you guys, and all the news is, is that Rob's birthday's March 21st, the first day of spring, and yea, that's why he's called Robin."

"Says who?" the boy wonder in question asked, "I never said that's how I got my name," at the exasperated look on his best friends face, with glee he added, "that's a whole different story. And what do you mean '_all the news is'_? You practically had to beg for the information!" he said with a laugh.

"Well, you're the one being all nonchalant about it all!"

"I thought you were supposed to keep your identity a secret, Robin?" Megan asked, confused. Before Wally could speed read through the entire conversation, Artemis explained.

"Apparently wonder boy's cocky enough to think we're too dumb to be able to figure out his secret I.D. from just knowing his birthday," Artemis told, rolling her eyes in disdain.

"Well if you're all so smart, why don't you just hop onto the computer over there and figure it all out then?" he asked, biting back laughter. Confused, his teammates stared at him.

"But… but it's a secret…"

"Which you've all been curious about, and you, Wally, have been bugging me about, non stop. If you're so curious, figure it out."

Miss Martian was still unsure. "But Batman-"

"Isn't here," Robin pointed out. "And can he fault you for 'accidentally' stumbling across my identity?"

"Look, we don't need to invade your privacy…" Artemis said, doubtfully. "We trust you."

"Well sure, but you think I care if you know who I am?"

"Then why don't you just tell us?" asked Superboy, impatiently. Robin laughed, his cackles filling the hall with laughter.

"Where would be the fun in that? And Arty, I know you guys trust me, but hey- if you want to use that as an excuse…"

"Excuse me?" the blonde archer asked, indignantly.

"Well, if you guys don't think you're smart enough to figure out who I am, well, you can just walk away, say it's a trust thing. No need to bruise your ego," he said, casually, leaning against the wall. "But hey, if you want Wally to outsmart you…"

Not one to back down from a challenge, she cracked her knuckles, and walked over to the computer. "Bring it on, bird boy." Robin laughed, and left the room, wide Cheshire cat smile on his face.

"Great, what'd you have to do that for?" The junior speedster yelled, as soon as Robin was out of earshot.

"What? Did you really think I was going to back down from a challenge given to me by a thirteen year old?"

"Well when that thirteen year old is smarter then you, yea, it's a pretty good idea!"

"You're the one who started this mess in the first place!"

"ME?"

"Yea! If you hadn't been bugging him in the first place about his identity, he wouldn't have challenged us all in the first place."

"Uh, don't drag me into this, you're the one he's messing with."

"Actually, he presented the challenge to each of us," Kaldur interjected, "when he told us his birth date. He presented us all with the same information, and is now awaiting to see what we do with it. Personally I believe we shouldn't pry into his personal business. When he is ready, he will tell us directly. Now, I have to get back home. I shall see you all soon." As he put his jacket on, he added, "And please don't do anything too foolish while I am gone." With that, he walked out the door.

Miss Martian was next. "I… also, do not think it's right for us to do this."

"Aww, come on Megalicious, you heard him! He wants us to figure it out! All bats are cryptic like that!"

"Still… I don't think anything good can come from this. I'll be around if any of you need me." She left the room.

"Well? What about you, Superboy?"

"What do I care about his secret identity? I've barely been out into the real world; why should I care who he is when he's not here with us?" Kid Flash opened his mouth to retort, but couldn't think of a good argument. Shrugging, Superboy left the room.

"And then there were two…" Artemis muttered. "So I'm guessing you're in?"

"Uh, yea I'm in! And knowing Rob, he's got something up his sleeve… and his other sleeve too. Two heads are better then one, right? Even if one is much more academically gifted…"

"Ugh. Geek."

"You know it! So where do we start? Birth announcements? Kids fitting his description?"

"What description? Short with dark messy hair? Runs around in a mask? That's not going to cut it. Why don't we see how many hospitals there are in Gotham anyway, and narrow it down from there?"

"…oh. I, uh, guess that could work…" Artemis smirked, and began typing.

"Alright, smarty pants. There are three hospitals in Gotham as of today, but the one is fairly new, so he couldn't have been born there. You take that hospital," she said pointing at the screen, "And I'll look up records for guys born on March 21st in 1999."

"… you mean 1998?"

"Shut up." Three hours of hacking their way into the hospital records later… (after all, when it came to hacking, neither were very skilled…) "Alright, here there's three kids that were born on the 21st … but two of them are girls."

"And the other kid?"

She smirked, "Ben Zeitzer - described as chubby and blonde."

"You looked yourself up?" Needless to say, Wally earned that smack to the head. "Okay, okay! But how do we know Rob doesn't dye his hair?"

"He doesn't," Artemis stated, immediately.

"How do you know?"

"Because you can tell if his roots-"

"Alright, alright! Don't go all girl-speak on me, yeesh! So Robby wasn't born in that hospital, alright."

"What about your results, Mr. Smarty-pants?"

"Got two matches! One's name is Johnny Zhang, and the other's Greyson Dickinson-"

"It's not him," Artemis immediately spoke.

"What? You didn't even-"

"His death certificate is right there!" she said, pointing at his laptop. "Car accident, three years ago."

"…oh. Well, that's awkward…" an even more awkward silence filled the air.

"Who's the Johnny kid?" Artemis asked, breaking the silence.

"Oh! Uh, dark hair, brown eyes, real tiny kid apparently." At that, the two looked at each other.

"It's gotta be him!" they yelled in unison. Kid Flash got up, calling Robin, "Hey! Wonder Boy! We've totally got this-"

"Did you now?" he asked, jumping down from the ceiling, almost giving the ginger a heart attack.

"Dude! Uh… yea, we totally have got this! You're Johnny Zhang!" Kid Flash shouted with glee.

"Admit it, Robin. We've outsmarted you!" Artemis said, smirking, "You didn't think we could figure it out!"

"I'm more impressed that you two managed to get along for so long," was his response. "But uh, 'bout the name…"

"What?" Artemis asked, dread in her voice.

"Look closer at the documents." As soon as Wally and Artemis were staring intently at the screen, Robin pointed out, "I'm not Asian." The boy wonder cackled with glee, as his two friends' jaws dropped.

"… but… but…"

"You'd know if I was, wouldn't you, Artie? After all, you're half Vietnamese yourself, right?"

"How did you-"

"'Cause I'm me."

"Oh, shut up. And how would we know if you're Asian or not? You've always got a mask or glasses on." Eyes closed, Robin peeled off his mask.

"Satisfied?" he asked, opening his eyes to reveal his sapphire blue orbs. Both Wally and Artemis swore in protest, even as Robin put his mask back on.

"Alright… and that kid had brown eyes anyway…"

"But wait!" Wally shouted, "That was the only kid that matched your description in all the hospitals of Gotham!" With that statement, Robin's face broke out into a look of pure euphoria, as he rolled around on the floor, laughing hysterically. "What's so funny? Dude?"

"Is this… normal?" Artemis asked, worried.

"With him… you never know. Rob?" The boy wonder sat up, making an attempt to contain his bursting laughter.

"Who… who said that I was born in Gotham?" With that, he burst out into another fit of giggles. Artemis and Wally stared at him for a few moments, then shared a look.

They turned back to him, angrily, "WHAT?" Robin smiled.

"Well, according to statistics…" he pulled up a file, "approximately 490,000 babies are born in the world every day, which of course, is evened out by the death tolls." He continued, "If you wanted to narrow it down, in the US, approximately 11,783 babies are born each day. Now, that can be further narrowed down, if you take into account that half those kids are girls. If you eliminate the kids born in Gotham on March 21st as well, it's narrowed down even more. Then you could narrow it down even more, knowing that I'm not Asian, Black, or Native American, and that I have dark hair and blue eyes."

"Ooooh, what are we at now? Huh? About 3,500 kids you could still be?" Wally asked, sarcasm dripping from his voice. Robin again began to laugh. "Here we go again…"

"Keep in mind that one, these are all approximates, and two, this is all a hypothetical situation. Your numbers are way off, Wally."

"What do you mean hypothetical?" Artemis asked.

"Well, this is all assuming I was born in the US." All the color drained from Artemis's face, and Wally slammed his head against a wall. "Yea, see, while my mom was always an American citizen, my dad? He grew up overseas, and didn't become a citizen of the US 'till he was in his twenties. And since my family liked to travel a lot… Well, the number's a bit higher then 3500, guys."

They stared, flabbergasted. "But… but what about school? You've gotta be in school in or near Gotham!" Artemis shouted, clutching onto straws.

"Yea!" Wally chimed in, "you told me when we were fighting at the Gotham Academy that it was your school!" The speedster now had a smug grin on his face.

"Only problem with that, Wally? You don't know if I still go there."

"Well, you wouldn't have said it was your school if-"

"If I was in a different one? School year hasn't started for me yet, smarts! For all you know, I could be homeschooled this year, or I could be in a different school, OR I could've graduated already! It's been done before, there's college for 13 year olds!"

"… Damn."

"You had this all planned out, didn't you?" Artemis accused.

"Maybe. Or maybe I just had a lot of time to make a slideshow while you two were trying to figure everything out." Wally groaned, silently cursing out the boy wonder.

"I hate you, man."

"I know. I mean, I could give you a few hints though, like to start I could hook you up to the right database so you don't have to hack so much, then I could tell you to switch the setting to "still alive" and that I was born in Romania…"

"I don't even want to hear it. I'm done. You win," announced the Archer, as she sped from the room, hands over her ears.

"Okay. Wally? Hints? I could tell you all about how much easier it'll be to find me when you stop looking in hospitals, since I wasn't born in one, or how I'm half Romany gypsy on my dad's side-"

"La la la! Can't hear you! La la la la! My brain is already mushed!" Robin smirked, and muttered to himself softly.

"Now if I type in my height and weight it's narrowed down more… but if I erase all of that, and only type in Flying Grayson's…"

He hit the enter key, and with a blip, the screen showed that one result was left. Robin knew that that one result was him. The last Flying Grayson. He didn't open the tab. He left it open, and started to leave, just as Aqualad was coming back. The Atlantian nodded to him, and Robin, saluting, left the cave. He looked up at the screen, noticing Robin had left it running.

When he saw what was still there, he froze. _One Result Remaining. _He kept walking.

Next to enter the living room was Megan, looking to see if Wally and Artemis were still there. Neither were, but she too noticed the still running computer. She looked up at the screen. _One Result Remaining. _As curious as she was, she didn't have the heart to look. She too kept walking.

Superboy was the next to pass it by, on his way outside. He barely spared it a passing glance, as _One Result Remaining _remained flashing on the screen.

It got later, and Artemis and Wally started getting ready to leave. They both had to walk through the living room to leave. They were the last to see the screen, which still bore the same words : _One Result Remaining._

Neither said anything. After all, there was the answer they had spent all day looking for. Just a mouse click away. But…

But Robin was their friend. In Wally's case, his _best_ friend. Kaldur had been right – Robin will tell them outright, when the time is right. He walked out the door, not saying a word.

Only Artemis remained. It truly tempted her. _One Result Remaining… _after all, she had only met Robin weeks ago. She didn't have the same bond with Robin that Kid Flash did. She reached for the mouse, unaware of the shadow watching her. The mouse hovered over the words, just a click away…

… but instead she moved the mouse to the corner of the screen, ex-ing out the program, and turned the monitor off. With a sigh, she too left the cave.

Back in the corner of the room, shadow became substance as the boy wonder moved forward, small smile on his face.

"They really do trust me."


End file.
